Never, never, NEVER get a Bengal cat!!!

[Panzerotti]

Send said kitty over here plz! Between the Mal and Siamese cat, my poor husband has finally admitted that we will never have "nice" things in our home, lol.

[PWCorgi]

I work with a woman who used to work at a local big cat wildlife sanctuary. They had over 40 Bengals surrendered to them before they said they just couldn't take any more. All surrendered by people who bought them not realizing that they were not just brining a normal cat home. Some of the stories she had were really really sad, and from talking to her over a long period of time, just about some of the crazy ways she has had to alter her life for her cat, I really disagree with Bengals being bred the way that they are now. The only reason she has one is because he was surrendered (by a breeder because his kittens were all born without breast plates) and couldn't get along with the other cats in the sanctuary and kept gettting the snot beat out of him because he was 4 paw declawed by the breeder.

They are not, in my opinion, an animal that should be able to be owned by a normal pet person without some kind of permit, or taking some kind of educational class before hand.

They are seriously the prettiest cats out there IMO, but I'd never ever own one.

[Psyfalcon]

It also depends on how many generations they are removed from the wild ancestor.

The one here isn't any worse than an average active dog, but she is 8. Well, she did destroy a screen to chase birds a few years ago. She now mostly resigns herself to clearing the table of papers twice a week or so.

Then again, you can teach your Mal or insane Lab to do things, cats... not so much.

[Panzerotti]

Originally Posted by Psyfalcon

Then again, you can teach your Mal or insane Lab to do things, cats... not so much.

Agreed. Cats are a different level of crazy. You really just have to love them and love their crazy ways because there's not much hope of changing it.

When my Siamese was a kitten he would do the craziest zoomies, whipping around the apartment doing every "bad" thing he could over and over and over. Try to knock picture off the wall, run full speed to mirror, try to knock mirror off the wall, run full speed to TV, jump and balance on top of flat screen TV, sometimes fall off and scratch screen, run full speed to computer, jump on monitor and knock monitor off table, run full speed to bookshelf, etc.

Crazy cats, like crazy dogs, are definitely not for everyone. I never get mad at my cat's destruction, I laugh and enjoy his wildness. The hard part was convincing my husband that crazy animals are going to be a part of our life forever.

[Renee750il]

Oh, I totally believe the Bengal stories, lol. I'm used to people not believing Fila stories

[Whisper]

Ms. Priscilla, that's really interesting. Here all sorts of shelters say "ZOMG COME ADOPT THIS AMAZING BENGAL!?!?!?!?!?" My eyes get sore from rolling my eyes at all the pretty DSH tabbies labelled as Bengals. I think I've seen ONE that could possible have been an actual Bengal.

[maxfox426]

Originally Posted by PWCorgi

They are not, in my opinion, an animal that should be able to be owned by a normal pet person without some kind of permit, or taking some kind of educational class before hand.

They are seriously the prettiest cats out there IMO, but I'd never ever own one.

I have to agree that Bengals are not for the everyday pet owner. Now, in my defense, I had never heard of Bengals before we adopted the Kitty Boy Brothers. We just thought we were bringing home a pair of nice tabbies. Then it turned out they were hyperactive super geniuses. We happened to be paging through a cat book at a bookstore and did a double-take when we saw the photo of Bengals. Did some reading, and it all started to add up.

I can't state with total confidence that they are 100% Bengal (whatever that means), as they were shelter cats and all, but they do have all the Bengal traits.

I do love them, I really do. But it is a LOT OF WORK to keep them entertained. Or else they take matters into their own paws... as how this thread was started.



For those requesting photos... I'll have to post some more recent ones later. (I know I have some but I can't seem to find them.) In the meantime, here are a some of my favorites, taken a few years ago:

Ticheli on the left


Whitacre on the left



I'm looking for a pic that better shows off their spots. lol

[Paige]

The way you describe Bengals makes me wonder if Brobee has any in him. This cat is like a strung out meth addict. He's insane.

[Maxy24]

I do think their temperament has a lot to do with how far removed they are their leopard cat. My friends cats are both like normal cats, the female has some issues with the other cats (doesn't play, gets irritated when they try to play with her) and is more aloof, she is more closely related to her leopard cat ancestor than her male, but it could just be a male/female difference too. Her male sounds VERY similar to my Siamese, super affectionate and vocal. He is just more active and intelligent. He taught himself to use the toilet. No one tried (or was interested) to train him to use it, he just started one day and now he only poops in the toilet. The breeder she got her cats from had giant hamster wheels for them to exercise on. Maybe my friend just got lucky lol.

[PWCorgi]

Originally Posted by maxfox426

I have to agree that Bengals are not for the everyday pet owner. Now, in my defense, I had never heard of Bengals before we adopted the Kitty Boy Brothers. We just thought we were bringing home a pair of nice tabbies. Then it turned out they were hyperactive super geniuses. We happened to be paging through a cat book at a bookstore and did a double-take when we saw the photo of Bengals. Did some reading, and it all started to add up.

I hope you didn't think I was trying to say you shouldn't own your cats, lol. Or taking an issue with you personally, I'm certainly not

I just hate that people see these gorgeous cats and without another thought they just bring one home (not talking rescue, talking about seeing them in the paper or a litter on CL). Many of them have serious issues, not just that they need to be entertained and get lots of exercised.

One of the Bengals that was surrendered to the sanctuary had killed the family dog. Another one's owner brought home a new boyfriend, kitty didn't like him and ended up sending him to the ER. There were a couple that were surrendered because owners didn't feel safe having them in a home with children. Granted, this obviously isn't every Bengal, but it's more than the normal housecat!

Most were surrendered because they'd lash out after situations changed (new house, new family member, new dog, new furniture, etc) and their owners couldn't handle them.